Tube straightener and drive therefor

ABSTRACT

A supply of continuous thin wall tubing which is drawn by a pair of opposed conveyor belts frictionally engaging the outside surfaces of the tubing first through a tube straightening device before the tube walls become engaged with the aforesaid conveyor belts so that straightened tubing is always subjected to engagement with the surfaces on the conveyor belts. The conveyor belts effect a longitudinal driving movement of the tubing into and through a tube cutting device and thence into a tube length control for accurately positioning the tube relative to the tube cutters in the tube cutting device and before the tube is cut. Once the tube length detection circuitry in the tube length control has been satisfied by the positioning of the tubing, the tube cutters in the tube cutting device is activated to sever the tubing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a device for driving lengthwise continuousthin wall tubing, to a tube straightening mechanism and to a tube lengthcontrol mechanism, as well as to a device for driving continuous thinwall tubing through a tube straightening device, to and through a tubecutting device, which tube cutting device is activated by a tube lengthcontrol which monitors the length of tubing to be cut and activates thetube cutting device only when the precise tube length is presentedthereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention arose out of a need to supply tubing cut to specificlengths requested by customers. Over the years, demand for preciselengths in cut tubing has risen and customers have certain needs whichrequire tubing of precise length for use in its equipment andinstallations. In the past, maintaining precise length in cutting aplurality of tubes to length has been difficult and certain customershave been noted for returning whole lots of cut tubing if one tube inthe lot is detected as being out of compliance with the customer'srequest, the thought being that if one tube is not cut to the requestedlength there must be multiple tubes also not cut to the requestedlength. Further, the customer does not want to have to spend its timesorting the tubing to find those that are not of the requested length.

In addition to the necessity of accurately controlling tube length,there is the desire to make the cut tube lengths straight. Tubestraightening mechanisms are known but all seemingly suffer from theserious disadvantage that much time and tubing is required to effect anaccurate adjustment of the next set of tube engaging rollers toaccommodate a different size tubing.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a system forrepetitively cutting continuous length tubing to specific lengths andwithout the need for human intervention for the purpose of monitoringthe cut tubing to make certain that the tubing complies with thecustomer's request.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a system, asaforesaid, wherein the tubing to be cut is first drawn through a tubestraightening device by a conveyor belt tube driving mechanism, thestraightened tube being frictionally engaged by opposing surfaces of theconveyor belt system to frictionally drive the tubing lengthwisethereof.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tube length controlfor controlling activation of an intermittently driven drive motor for atube driving mechanism during a dwell period for the drive motor toprecisely orient a length of tubing to be cut relative to a tube cuttingdevice and only when the precise location has been determined by thetube length control is the tube cutting device activated to effect asevering of the tube from the continuous length tube supply.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tube straighteningmechanism which is quickly and easily adjustable to accommodatedifferent diameter tubing thereby substantially reducing the magnitudeof the down time for the changeover to different diameter tubing.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tube straighteningmechanism, as aforesaid, wherein plural pairs of a first set of tubeengaging rollers each having tube guiding grooves therein arereplaceable with a second set of preadjusted rollers with different sizetube guiding grooves therein and into the same support as is used forthe first set of tube engaging rollers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objects and purposes of the invention are met by providing a supplyof continuous thin wall tubing which is drawn by a pair of opposedconveyor belts frictionally engaging the outside surfaces of the tubingfirst through a tube straightening device before the tube walls becomeengaged by the aforesaid conveyor belts so that straightened tubing isalways subjected to engagement with the surfaces on the conveyor belts.The conveyor belts effect a longitudinal driving movement of thecontinuous tubing through the tube straightening mechanism and into andthrough a tube cutting device and thence into a tube length control foraccurately positioning the tubing relative to the tube cutting deviceand before the tube is cut. Once the tube length detection circuitry hasbeen satisfied by the positioning of the tubing, the tube cutting deviceis activated to sever the tubing.

The objects and purposes of the invention are also met by providing atube straightening mechanism which has interchangeable, preadjusted setsof tube working rollers for quickly facilitating a change over todifferent size tubing and without wastage of tubing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and purposes of this invention will be apparent to personsacquainted with apparatus of this general type upon reading thefollowing specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a tube straightener and drive mechanism forthe tubing used in combination with a tube length control forfacilitating a cutting of a continuous length tubing into predefinedlengths;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the tube straightening device andthe drive mechanism therefor;

FIG. 3 is a left end view of the tube drive mechanism for the tubingshown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of one set of tube working rollers used on thetube straightening device;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5—5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6—6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front view of a tube length control device;

FIG. 8 is a right end view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragment of FIG. 7 with a portion of the structurebeing removed so as to render visible the tube present therein; and

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line 10—10 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terminology will be used in the following description forconvenience in reference only and will not be limiting. The words “up”,“down”, “right” and “left” will designate directions in the drawings towhich reference is made. The words “forward” and “rearward” as well as“upstream” and “downstream”, will refer to the direction of tubemovement through the system, “forward” being the normal flow directionas indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1. The words “in” and “out” willrefer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometriccenter of the device and designated parts thereof. Such terminology willinclude derivatives and words of similar import.

A tube drive mechanism 10 for effecting a longitudinal movement of acontinuous length of tubing T through the system S will be describedfirst. In this particular embodiment, two tubes T₁ and T₂ are movedsimultaneously through the system S by the tube driving device 10.

The tube driving device 10 includes a base frame 11 having paralleltracks 12 thereon guiding a carriage 13 through a controlled reciprocalmovement. An upright stanchion 14 is provided on the carriage 13 and ismaintained in an upright orientation by a plurality of supports 16 alsomounted on the carriage 13. The upright stanchion 14 is secured to eachof the supports 16 by fasteners not illustrated. The fasteners securingthe supports 16 to the carriage 13 are illustrated at 17.

A conventional worm drive mechanism 18 is provided between the carriage13 and a base surface 19 upon which the base frame 11 is mounted. Theworm drive mechanism 18 is operated by a rotatable hand crank 21. Upon arotating of the hand crank 21 about an axis of rotation 22 therefor, thecarriage 13 will move in a controlled manner left and right (in FIG. 3)relative to the base frame 11 and the base surface 19 on which the baseframe 11 is mounted. Of course, the upright stanchion 14 and thesupports 16 therefor will move with the carriage 13.

A pair of motor mounting brackets 23 and 24 (FIG. 3) are secured to theupright stanchion 14 and project in a cantilevered manner leftwardlyaway therefrom. A first motor 26 and right angle drive 27 therefor areconnected to the motor mounting bracket 23 as shown in FIG. 1. A secondmotor 28 and its right angle drive 30 are mounted to the bracket 24 asillustrated in FIG. 3 directly beneath the motor 26, right angle drive27 and bracket 23. The drive motors 26 and 28 are both electricalintermittently driven servomotors which are reversible and controllablewith respect to a desired point of stoppage. The purpose of this featurewill become more apparent below. The output shaft of the drive motor 26is connected through a coupling 29 to a rotatable shaft 31. Thisconnection is also schematically depicted at 49 in FIG. 3. A similardrive arrangement exists for the drive motor 28 and its coupledarrangement to a drive shaft 32 which is schematically illustrated as at50 in FIG. 3. The bearings rotatably supporting the rotatable shafts 31and 32 are not illustrated but can be oriented within the respectivemotor mounting brackets 23 and 24.

In this particular embodiment, the rotatable shaft 32 is drivinglyconnected to a spur gear 33 which has a toothed belt driving wheel 34fastened thereto. A further spur gear 36 and toothed belt driving wheel37 are freely rotatably supported on the shaft 31. The spur gears 33 and36 are meshingly engaged with one another so that a driving of the spurgear 33 by the motor 28 will effect a simultaneous rotation of the spurgear 36 and toothed belt driving wheel 37 secured thereto.

Shafts 38 and 39 are also provided on and cantilevered from thestanchion 14, the axis of the shaft 38 being contained in the samehorizontal plane as the axis of the shaft 31 whereas the axis of theshaft 39 is in the same horizontal plane as is the axis of the shaft 32.Toothed belt driving wheels 41 and 42 are freely rotatably supported onthe shafts 38 and 39, respectively. An endless and toothed belt 43 ismounted on the toothed belt driving wheels 36 and 41. A further endlessand toothed belt 44 is mounted on the toothed belt driving wheels 34 and42. The reach 46 of the belt 43 and the reach 47 of the belt 44 areurged toward one another by a conventional pressure applying device 48schematically illustrated in FIG. 2. As is illustrated in FIG. 3, theendless belt 47 has a plurality of side-by-side oriented grooves 51, 52and 53 therein. In this particular embodiment, each of the grooves 51,52 and 53 can be of a differing diameter to accommodate a differentdiameter tube working therewith and as will be explained in more detailbelow. The surface 54 of the belt 43 is smooth as is depicted in FIGS. 1and 3. The surface 54 of the belt 43 opposing the surface of anyselected groove 51, 52 or 53 in the belt 47 is configured tofrictionally engage a tube T passing therebetween.

The drive motor 26 and right angle drive mechanism 27 effects a drivingof a spur gear 57 in the same manner that the drive motor 28 effects adriving of the spur gear 33. The spur gear 57 mates with a further spurgear 58 so that the belt driving wheels 59 and 61 secured, respectively,to the spur gears 57 and 58, will be driven by the drive motor 26.Similar belt supporting wheels are freely rotatably mounted on theshafts 38 and 39 in a manner similar to the wheels 41 and 42. An endlessbelt 62 is mounted on the belt driving wheel 59 and the drive wheelfreely rotatably supported on the shaft 38. A further endless belt 63 ismounted on the belt drive wheel 61 and a corresponding belt supportwheel freely rotatably supported on the shaft 39. As is depicted inFIGS. 1 and 3, the outer surface of the belt 62 is smooth whereas theouter surface of the belt 63 has plural grooves 66, 67 and 68 therein.The size of the grooves 66, 67 and 68 can correspond, respectively, tothe size of the grooves 51, 52 and 53 or be in some other relationthereto.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a tube supply is provided and, in thisparticular embodiment, is the source for two tubes T₁ and T₂ preferably(but not necessarily) of the same size. The tube supply is generally incoil format and the tubes T₁ and T₂ are drawn from the tube supplythrough a tube straightening mechanism 70 by the tube driving device 10,particularly, the tube T₁ being received between the opposing surfacesof the belts 62 and 63 and the tube T₂ being received between theopposing surfaces of the belts 43 and 44 as schematically depicted inFIG. 3.

The tube straightening mechanism is comprised of two sections 71 and 72,each section capable of working two tubes T₁ and T₂ at a time. That is,section 71 has two subsections 71A and 71B whereas section 72 has twosubsections 72A and 72B. Since the construction in each of thesubsections is generally the same, only the subsection 71A will bedescribed in detail, it being understood that this description will beapplicable to the remaining subsections.

The section 71 of the tube straightening mechanism 70 includes avertically upstanding plate 73 having along an upper edge thereof atrough 74 into which is reciprocally received a locking bar 76. Theplate 73 also has a plurality of holes 77 (FIG. 5) of a first sizeextending therethrough and holes 78 of a second size extendingtherethrough. As is best illustrated in FIG. 5, each hole 78 isstraddled by a pair of holes 77. In this particular embodiment,subsection 71A includes two sets of tube working rollers 79 and 81spaced along the length of travel of the tube T₂ and one set of tubestraightening rollers 82. Each of the tube working rollers 79 and 81 aswell as the tube straightening rollers 82 are of an identicalconstruction and, therefore, only the tube working roller set 79 will bediscussed in detail with particular reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

The tube working roller set 79 (FIG. 5) includes a shaft 83 one end ofwhich is removably received in the hole 77 oriented to the right of thehole 78. The shaft 83 projects in a cantilevered fashion from one sideof the plate 73 through a hole 85 in a lever 84 to pivotally support thelever 84. A tube working roller 86 is rotatably supported on the shaft83. The axis of rotation for the roller 86 coincides with thelongitudinal axis of the shaft 83 as well as the pivot axis for thelever 84. Midlength of the lever 84 there is provided a hole 87, whichhole is elongated in a direction transverse of the length of the leveras illustrated in FIG. 4. A shaft 88 having at one end a diametercorresponding to the diameter of the hole 78 is received in the hole 78and, at the other end, has a stub shaft section 89 received in the hole87 in the lever 84. An internally threaded hole 91 extends through thestub shaft section 89. The lever 84 also has a pair of holes 92 and 93that are axially aligned with one another as well as axially alignedwith the internally threaded hole 91. An externally threaded bolt 94extends through the axially aligned holes 92 and 93 and is threadedlyengaged with the threads in the hole 91. The bolt 94 has a nut 96thereon oriented on a side of the lever 84 remote from the head 97thereof. The nut is fixed to the bolt by a pin 98 so that the bolt 94and nut 96 will simply rotate in the axially aligned holes 92 and 93 toeffect a pivoting of the lever 84 about the axis of the shaft 83 to andbetween positions depicted in broken lines in FIG. 4. A stub shaft 99 isreceived in a hole 101 in the lever 84 on a side of the hole 87 remotefrom the hole 85. A tube working roller 102 is rotatably supported on areduced diameter section of the stub shaft 99 as best illustrated inFIG. 5. The tube working rollers 86 and 102 are each maintained on theirrespective shafts by pins 103 (FIG. 2) received in grooves 104. Since asis illustrated in FIG. 2 the tube working rollers 86 and 102 areoriented on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the tube T₂ whichis to be straightened, it can be seen that a pivoting of the lever 84will alter the degree of working on the tube T₂. More specifically, asthe tube working roller 102 of the tube working roller set 79 is movedtoward or away from the longitudinal axis of the tube T₂, as well astoward and away from the roller 86 in the tube working roller set 81,the tube T₂ will be worked sufficiently in an effort to straighten same.Similarly, and since the tube working rollers in the tube working rollerset 79 are identical in construction to the rollers in the tube workingroller set 81 and the tube straightening roller set 82, the tube T₂ willbe sufficiently worked so that by the time it reaches the two tubesizing rollers 106 and 107, the tube will be effectively straightened ina first plane thereof.

The two tube sizing rollers 106 and 107 served to return the peripheralsurface of the tube T₂ to a cylindrical format prior to a movement ofthe tube T₂ onto the next section 72A of the tube straighteningmechanism 70. The sizing roller 107 is mounted on a lever 108 that ispivotally secured to the plate 73 by an axle 109 and has an adjustmentmechanism 111 identical in nature to the adjustment mechanism foreffecting a pivoting of the lever 84 as depicted in FIG. 4.

Each of the two tube working roller sets 79 and 81 as well as the tubestraightening roller set 82 is releasably mounted on the plate 73. Inorder to accommodate this releasable connection to the plate 73, theshaft 88 includes an annular groove 112 therein. The locking bar 76includes a flat edge 113 which is received in the annular groove 112 ina first position of the locking bar 76 so as to prevent withdrawal ofthe shaft 88 as well as the shaft 83 from the respective holes 78 and77. However, upon a moving of the locking bar 76 to the right in FIG. 6until an arcuate notch 114 becomes concentric with the radius for theouter surface of the shaft 88, the shaft 88 will be permitted to exitfrom the hole 78 accompanied by a withdrawal of the shaft 83 from thehole 77. As a result of this releasable connection feature, a similarset of rollers with different diameter grooves 116 therein can be usedfor working different diameter tube emanating from the tube supply.

The aforesaid similar sets of rollers will all usually be preadjusted,due to them having been used previously, so that little or no additionaladjustment is required in the form of an additional set-up procedure.Thus, the operation of the system S will be down for only a relativelyshort interval of time during the change over while the similar sets ofrollers is substituted for each of the previously used sets.

As stated above, the subsections 71B, 72A and 72B each comprise sets ofrollers identical to those that have been described above with respectto subsection 71A. Thus, further discussion about the orientation of therollers on the respective plates 73 and 117 is believed unnecessary. Onthe plate 117, however, there is provided two locking bars 118 and 119comparable to the locking bar 76 on the plate 73. Since the subsections72A and 72B are horizontally spaced from one another, as opposed toback-to-back as is the case with the subsections 71A and 71B, twolocking bars 118 and 119 are needed in order to releasably lock the setsof working rollers and straightening rollers to the plate 117.

Generally, as the tubes T₁ and T₂ exit the two sets of sizing rollers106A, 107A and 106B, 107B at the left end of the subsections 72A and72B, the tubes T₁ and T₂ will be sized (i.e., cylindrical) and straightprior to their entry into association with the immediately adjacent tubedriving mechanism 10. As a result, the length of tube T₁ and T₂ enteringthe associated groove in the selected belts 44 and 63 will remain in theselected groove due to the prior straightening of the respective tube.In other words, there will be no tendency for the length of tubes T₁ andT₂ to wander left and right as the tube travels between the opposingsurfaces of the belt pairs 43, 44 and 62, 63.

If a different size tube is provided by the tube supply, the tubedriving mechanism can be shifted left and right (FIG. 3) by turning thehand crank 21 about the axis of rotation 22 therefor to bring anappropriate groove 51-53 as well as 66-68 into proper alignment with thelongitudinal axis for the respective tube to facilitate a driving ofthat tube therethrough.

As the tube exits the tube driving mechanism 10, it enters and passesthrough a tube cutter device, such as the device disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 3,568,488. According to this patent, and during a dwell time in anintermittent drive cycle provided by the drive motors 26 and 28, eachtube is tightly gripped and placed under tension, and while the tube istensioned, a cutting tool makes and annular cut in the periphery of thetube which penetrates into the wall of the tube. With the tensionapplied to the tube, the tensile strength of the tube wall not yetsevered is exceeded, and the tube breaks. Consequently, the tubematerial is not cut entirely through, but partially cut and partiallypulled apart at the cutting point. Therefore, the inwardly extending buris minimized by the extruding caused by the pulling apart action. Thesubject matter of the aforesaid patent is to be incorporated herein byreference.

As the drive motors 26 and 28 continue to intermittently drive thebelts, tubing is pulled through the tube straightening mechanism 70 anddelivered to and through the tube cutter device into a tube lengthcontrol mechanism 120, an example of which is illustrated in FIGS. 7-10.As is illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the tube length control mechanismincludes a frame 121 having a pair of vertically upstanding legs 122 and123 interconnected by horizontally extending bracing 124 oriented onopposite sides of the legs 123 adjacent the upper ends thereof. Furtherhorizontal bracing components 126 are fastened to opposite sides of theupstanding legs 122 and 123 and each have affixed thereto an elongateangled profile, here a V-shaped profile, 127 wherein the legs of theangled profile open outwardly in opposite horizontal directions. A crosssection of the elongate strip of angled profile 127 is betterillustrated in FIG. 10. A mating elongate strip of angled profile 128 isprovided for each profile 127, with each profile 128 being fixedlysecured to a lever arm 129 pivotally supported for movement about anaxis 131 of an axle 132 secured to a horizontal bracing component 133.The legs of each of the V profiles 128 open outwardly in a directiondirectly opposing the legs of the V profiles 127. A clevis 134 isprovided which is attached to and extends away from a side of the axles132 remote from the angled profiles 128 and each is acted upon by anactuator 136 for effecting a pivotal movement of the levers 129 betweenthe broken line position and the solid line position illustrated in bothof FIGS. 8 and 10. When the lever arms 129 are in the solid lineposition illustrated in FIG. 10, the angled profiles 127 and 128 mate todefine a rectangular opening 137 adapted to receive therein a tube,namely, a tube T₂ as illustrated in FIG. 10. The tube T₁ is receivedinto an identical array on the right hand side of the upstanding legs123 as depicted in FIG. 8. Each of the tubes T₁ and T₂ are guided into acorresponding opening 137 between the angled profiles 127 and 128 by afunnel mechanism 138 (FIG. 7).

An elongate horizontal bar 141 is secured to the upstanding legs 122 and123 and has a plurality of horizontally extending holes 142 horizontallyspaced therealong. In this particular embodiment, each of the holes isprecisely one-half inch from the next adjacent hole. The elongate bar141 is oriented above the angled profiles 127 and 128 as best depictedin FIGS. 7 and 10. A similar elongate horizontally extending bar 143 issecured to and extends between the upstanding legs 122 and 123 and isoriented below the angled profiles 127 and 128. The bar 143 also has aplurality of horizontally extending holes 144 therein, each hole 144being precisely spaced one-half inch from the next adjacent hole andoriented directly beneath a hole 142.

A light sending unit 146 is mounted to the elongate bar 141 using aselected hole or holes 142 in the elongate bar 141 for effecting anappropriate positioning thereof measured from the location of the cutterblade in the tube cutter device schematically shown at 150 in FIG. 1.Screws 147 are used to secure the light sending unit 146 to the elongatebar 141. The light sending unit 146 is configured to send a light beam148 of substantial width W₁ (FIG. 9) constituting a multiple of thehalf-inch spacing between the holes 141 and 144.

The light sending unit 146 has a pair of spacer tabs 149 extending intothe path of movement of the elongate angled profiles 127 and 128 so asto prevent distal edges of the legs of the angled profiles 127 and 128from touching one another at a location therebetween so as to permit thefull width W₁ of the light beam 148 to enter the open space 137 betweenthe angled profiles 127 and 128 as schematically depicted in FIG. 10.

A light detecting unit 151 is mounted to the bar 143 and is securedthereto by a plurality of screws 152 received in holes 144 orienteddirectly beneath the holes 142 into which are received the aforesaidscrews 147. As a result, the light detecting unit 151 is orienteddirectly below the light sending unit 146 as illustrated in FIG. 9. Thelight detecting unit 151 has a pair of spaced spacer tabs 153 extendinginto the path of movement of the elongate angled profiles 127 and 128 soas to prevent the distal edges of the legs of the angled profiles 127and 128 from contacting one another between the spacer tabs 153. As aresult, a full width W₁ of the light beam 148 emanating from the lightsending unit 146 will be fully detected by the light detecting unit 151through the gap created by the spacer tabs 149 and 153.

As a respective tube T₁ or T₂ enters the open space 137 between theangled profiles 127 and 128 on opposite sides of the upstanding legs123, the leading end 157 (FIG. 9) of the tube will enter the regionwhereat the light beam 148 is located. The drive motors 26 or 28 will bepreprogrammed to stop at this time. A portion of the leading end 157 ofeach tube, here the tube T₂ (FIG. 9), will intersect the width W₁ of thelight beam 148 and the light detecting unit 151 will detect a reducedwidth W₂ of light in the light beam 148 and a control 154 will generatea signal to the controlling reversible motor 26 or 28 to either anadvance of the respective tubes T₁ and T₂ leftwardly or rightwardly(FIG. 9) to locate the leading ends 157 of the tubes T₁ and T₂ preciselyat the preselected locations from the cutter blades 150. When thecontrol 154 has so noted from the light detecting units 151 that theleading ends 157 of the tubes T₁ and T₂ have been appropriately located,only then will a signal be sent by the control 154 to the tube cutterdevice to cause the cutter blades 150 to cut the tubes T₁ and T₂thereat. Following a completion of a cutting operation, the control 154will activate the actuators 136 to cause the lever arms 129 andassociated profiles 128 to pivot to the broken line position therebyenabling the tubes T₁ and T₂ to fall under the effect of gravity into arespective trough 156.

The light sending unit 146, the light detecting unit 151 and the control154 therefor are conventional devices available from KEYENCE CORP. OFAMERICA, particularly, model number LX2-13(w).

Operation

Although the operation of the mechanism described above will beunderstood from the foregoing description by skilled persons, a summaryof such description is now given for convenience.

Tubing T is drawn from the tube supply through two sections 71 and 72 ofa tube straightening mechanism 70 by a belt drive tube driving mechanism10. The tube drive mechanism 10 is adjustably movable laterally byrotating the hand crank 21 so that an appropriately sized one of thegrooves 51-53 and 66-68 in the lower one of the pairs of belts willalign with the longitudinal axis of the now straightened tube T₁ and T₂exiting the tube straightening mechanism 70. The tube pulled from thetube supply through the tube straightening mechanism 70 is thencedelivered to and through the tube cutter device to a tube length controlmechanism 120 which senses the length of tube between the cutter blades150 in the tube cutter device and the leading end 157 of the tubes andonce the leading ends of the tubes are appropriately located byappropriate control of the intermittent operation of the motors 26 and28, a signal is sent from the control 154 in the tube length controlmechanism 120 to the tube cutter device to effect a cutting of one tubeor two tubes by the cutter blades 150, which tube or tubes arethereafter permitted to drop into a trough 156.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has beendisclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognizedthat variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, includingthe rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tube straightening device, comprising: a frameextending lengthwise of a path of movement of a length of tube to bestraightened; at least one elongate lever oriented along a length ofsaid path of movement, said lever including pivotal securement means forsecuring a first end of said lever to said frame and for movement abouta first axis; a roller on each end of said lever disposed to contactopposite sides of the tube and deflect the tube, each oppositely to theother, a first of said rollers at said first end of said lever beingrotatably secured to said pivotal securement means and for rotationabout an axis of rotation that is congruent with said first axis; and anadjustment mechanism on said lever oriented intermediate said rollersthereon, said adjustment mechanism including an anchor member secured tosaid frame, and means operatively connecting said anchor member and saidlever for effecting a movement of said lever relative to said anchormember to cause said lever to pivot about said first axis to effect avarying of a spacing between one of said rollers on said lever orientedon one side of said tube and a further roller separate from said rollerson said lever as well as varying an orientation of a second of saidrollers on said lever relative to an outer surface of said tube.
 2. Thetube straightening device according to claim 1, wherein said furtherroller is a sizing roller.
 3. The tube straightening device according toclaim 1, wherein said further roller is one of said rollers on a nextadjacent lever.
 4. The tube straightening device according to claim 1,wherein said means operatively connecting said anchor member and saidlever includes an elongate opening in said lever located intermediatesaid rollers thereon and receiving therein said anchor member which issmaller in size than is the size of said elongate opening, and saidanchor member having an internally threaded hole threadedly receivingtherein an externally threaded bolt rotatably supported on said lever sothat a rotation of said bolt will effect a pivoting of said lever aboutsaid first axis.
 5. The tube straightening device according to claim 1,wherein said frame has a pair of cylindrical sizing rollers adjacentsaid lever, each said sizing roller engaging an opposing side of saidtube for shaping said tube to a cylindrical form.
 6. The tubestraightening device according to claim 5, wherein said further rolleris a sizing roller.
 7. The tube straightening device according to claim1, wherein said lever and said anchor member include means configuredfor releasable securement to said frame; wherein said frame includes alatch movable between first and second positions for securing at leastone of said lever and said anchor member to said frame when in a firstposition thereof and releasing said at least one of said lever and saidanchor member from said frame when in said second position thereof. 8.The tube straightening device according to claim 1, wherein at least twolevers are provided which are spaced along said length of said path ofmovement, each lever being pivotally secured at first ends thereof by arespective said pivotal securement means to said frame and forrespective movements about respective first axes; wherein a roller isprovided on each end of each lever, respective rollers on each leverbeing disposed to contact opposite sides of the tube and deflect thetube, each oppositely to the other, a first of said rollers at saidfirst ends of said levers being secured to a respective said pivotalsecurement means and for rotation about axes of rotation that arecongruent with said first axes; wherein both of said levers include ananchor member oriented intermediate said rollers thereon and beingsecured to said frame; and wherein means are provided for operativelyconnecting both of said anchor members and said respective levers foreffecting selective independent movements of said levers relative tosaid respective anchor members to cause said respective levers to pivotabout respective said first axes to effect a varying of a saidrespective spacing between a first of said rollers on a first of saidtwo levers oriented on one side of said tube and one of said rollers ona second of said two levers as well as varying an orientation of asecond of said rollers on said first of said two levers relative toanother surface of said tube.
 9. The tube straightening device accordingto claim 1, wherein said frame includes at least two holes therein intoeach of which is received a respective one of said anchor member andsaid pivotal securement means for said lever.
 10. The tube straighteningdevice according to claim 9, wherein at least one of said anchor memberand said pivotal securement means include first means configured forreleasable securement to said frame; and wherein said frame includes asliding latch slidably supported for lengthwise sliding movement on saidframe between first and second positions, said sliding latch havingsecond means operatively coupleable with said first means in response toa movement of said sliding latch to said second position thereof, asliding of said sliding latch to said first position thereof effectingan uncoupling of said first and second means to enable removal of saidlever and associated anchor member and said pivotal securement meansfrom said frame.
 11. The tube straightening device according to claim10, wherein said frame includes a third hole therein, said third holehaving a size equal to a size of a first hole for said pivotalsecurement means, an axis of said third hole being oriented on atheoretical line perpendicular to said first axis and an axis of asecond hole for said anchor member which extends parallel to said firstaxis and at an equal distance from said second hole as said first holeis from said second hole, an axis of said third hole extending parallelto said axes of said first and second holes so that said pivotalsecurement means is receivable in a selected one of said first and thirdholes whenever said anchor means is received in said second hole.